Before starting another round of bug extermination Lucius wanted to experiment with the magical system, that had appeared when everyone saw the vision of the ancient man and shadow monster. He wasn't entirely unfamiliar with stories featuring a video game-like guiding mechanism, but it was hard to believe that was what was happening to them now.
"If this was a game, the first thing we should do is use our attribute points and maybe learn how our abilities work, right?" Lucius suggested.
"I guess so. How do we do that? I don't suppose we can just think something like, 'status window'." replied Jack.
"I'm going to try communicating with the system. It seems magical, so maybe it can understand me." Lucius said, as he spoke to the system.
"He... hello? Status messages? System?" Lucius tried speaking aloud, but nothing happened. However, when he repeated the same thing, using only his thoughts, he got a response.
Greetings! How can I be of service?
Lucius jolted, he hadn't expected such a quick breakthrough.
"It worked! You can use your thoughts to talk to it." he told Jack, explaining his discovery. "I'm going to try asking it some questions."
Lucius focused, and asked the system what it was.
I am a magical construct.
"Okay… I guess, that makes sense. But why are you suddenly in my head?"
My purpose is to aid those who resist the Abyss.
"What? What is the Abyss, and why did you suddenly show up now?"
Your planet was previously shielded from my influence. That shielding ceased to exist at 0114 hours Earth time, on Friday the 26th of October 2024.
"That was a few hours ago, when we all saw the vision! Do you know what that was all about?
Insufficient data.
"Okay, but what is the Abyss? You didn't answer that."
The Abyss is our sister universe, a realm that is home to powerful beings whose might threatens even the Gods of this realm. To resist the Abyss, I was created. Creatures of the Abyss are currently entering your world through small dimensional anomalies.
"Oh god, this situation is worse than I thought." Lucius concluded, then asked, "Okay, I think I understand the situation. What about abilities and attributes? Can you help me understand that?"
Focus on an ability to learn more about it. Focus on the concept 'status' to access attributes.
"Okay, uh... Status?"
Strength 4 Vitality 3 Dexterity 3 Intelligence 5 Creativity 6 Luck 1 Stamina 3 Magic Power 0 Free Attributes 2
"Whoa, Magic Power? That sounds interesting, but I'm no mage. If anything I'm closer to a thief than some noble wizard. That's who I have been in this life so far, anyway." Lucius thought, "Let's try this out. I'll put my two free attributes in Dexterity. I have a feeling there will be a great deal of running away, and dodging, in my future..."
As soon as he thought the command Lucius felt a rush of strange energy course through his body, like someone was flushing ice-cold water through his veins.
"Whoa, holy crap!" Lucius stumbled forward holding and rubbing his arms to blunt the sudden cold, the bone chilling infusion of power was like nothing he had felt. "I'm not going to get used to that anytime soon" he thought as he steadied himself. "Okay, now I want to know about abilities."
Sense Danger Level 2 Heightened danger sense, passive. Assassinate Level 1 +20% damage to each successful attack, stacking, stacks are lost when you are damaged or leave combat.
"What? The Assassinate ability seems strong! With this ability each attack will do more damage. As long as I don't get hit, or leave combat, is there no limit to how much damage it can do? Lucius pondered. "This would pair great with a stealth ability or at least high evasion and speed so I can dodge better. I'm glad I just spent my attributes on Dexterity!"
A smile couldn't help but spread across his face as his pondered the situation. His old life, living in rags and begging for change from indifferent strangers, was a soul-numbing existence. He had no power, no dignity, and no hope for the future. Now, he had a chance to change everything. He could be useful, and there was a path to gaining real power right in front of him. Sure it was dangerous dealing with these strange monsters, but it was a night and day better deal than his life so far. His fingers began tapping the table and his leg bounced on the floor under his chair as he eagerly imagined what the future might hold.
"Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do." Lucius decided. "I'll throw myself into this new world, and make something of myself. I would've ended up dead on the streets soon anyway. Risking my life for a real shot at something, that sounds good!"
Now that Lucius understood his situation better he turned back to the task at hand. He needed to test his new abilities, and see how strong he could get by killing these Abyss creatures.
"How's it going, Jack? You done chatting with the system?" Lucius asked.
"Yeah, I put my free attributes into Strength. I've never been the smartest guy so I think I'll just try to get as strong as I can." Jack replied.
"Are you ready to get back to work? I wanna farm some more levels!" asked Lucius
Jack gave a thumbs-up. Together they cleared the dead creatures from the cage and stuffed the bodies in the freezer, as Jack had suggested earlier. But before they started another round Lucius had an idea.
"Hey Jack, you must have some knives in this store somewhere, right? These sharpened broom handles are kind of weak."
"Uh, yeah, we have kitchen knives. But wouldn't we have to, you know, get too close if we used those? Those insects are vicious, and they might be venomous. Even a small wound could be deadly." Jack hesitated.
"Just show me to the knives. Trust me, I'll show you what we can do." Lucius responded while patting his chest confidently.
Jack took him to the food prep area and opened a drawer full of knives. Lucius grabbed the two that were the largest and used a roll of duct tape to secure each blade to the end of a broom handle, creating makeshift spears. He also grabbed a smaller dagger-sized knife and slipped it into his boot, for good measure.
"See? Now we have some spears that don't suck quite as much! They'll probably fall apart eventually, but we've got plenty of tape so who cares!" Lucius said with a grin.
"Why didn't I think of that…" Jack mused.
By now Mary and James had come over to see what they were doing. The pair held tense expressions on their faces, especially Mary.
"Please be careful. If anything happens to you Patrick is doomed! " Mary pleaded, her voice wavering. After hearing the information they had gleaned from the system she understood that no one else would be coming to help, this was a worldwide disaster! It would be every person for themselves going forward.
"Don't worry. Just keep James safe and wait for the good news!" Jack reassured her with a grin.
Jack and Lucius headed back into the bathroom, locked the door behind them, and got ready for round two.